Sunday, May 24, 2020

NICKNAMES OF THE 1970s- 1975 STEVE "BUZZ" BUSBY

Up on the blog today I’m adding Steve Busby to my long-running “Nicknames of the 1970’s” thread, with this 1975 “Buzz” cut:


Busby was making a pretty great name for himself by the time this card would have seen the light of day, already the author of a 22-win season (1974), TWO no-hitters (1973 & 1974), and only 24-years-of-age for the Kansas City Royals.
He had a very bright career ahead of him, and 1975 was equally as successful, winning 18 games while lowering his earned run average to 3.08 over 260.1 innings.
But sadly arm troubles took hold and he had rotator cuff surgery, causing him to miss most of 1976 as well as all of 1977 before making it all the way back for seven appearances in 1978.
But he could never again regain the form that allowed him to win 56 games in three seasons between 1973 and 1975.
He eventually retired after the 1980 season, a year which saw him appear in 11 games, pitching to a record of 1-3 with an ugly 6.17 E.R.A.
All told, he finished with a record of 70-54, with an E.R.A. Of 3.72 over 167 appearances, with 659 strikeouts and seven shutouts over 1060.2 innings pitched.